December 29, 2016

The year ends with a second chance and the author's mom staying up until 4am.

The last week of the year has a couple of North American retro releases, but not much else. The Wii U Virtual Console finally gets Mario Kart 64, which is upgrade eligible for the many people who bought it on Wii, and hopefully the upgrade works right from update time. In the realm of the New 3DS, it's another chance for Castlevania Dracula X following its aborted upload last week.

December 28, 2016

Super Mario Run is now available for pre-registration on the Google Play Store. Pre-registered users will receive a notification when the game is available on Android.

Super Mario Run was first released for iOS devices on December 15th and quickly reached 40 million downloads. The game was first announced at Apple's Special Event in September as an iOS timed exclusive and was later confirmed for a 2017 release on Android.

December 26, 2016

Win big, or at least listen to some hot tunes while waiting in line to play Switch.

Both a Nintendo Switch giveaway and live music are coming to the Nintendo Switch public event being held at Tokyo Big Sight on January 14 and 15. Two music arrangements, a big band/jazz arrangement by Masanori Sasaji and a rock arrangement by Tetsuya Oyama, will both be at the show. The rock arrangements... Read more...

Get your grub on with your pals from the Mushroom Kingdom at locations all across Japan.

Super Mario themed Happy Sets (Happy Meals) are coming to McDonald’s across Japan starting on January 6. Twelve toys in total will be available ranging from characters like Mario, Luigi and Bowser to items like question blocks and the iconic block staircase. There will also be a special series of stage stickers and a booklet that will only be available on January 7, 8 and 9. For a full look at the toys, be sure to check out the video below.

December 23, 2016

Following two internal titles this year, Nintendo intends to increase their mobile pace in 2017.

In separate Japanese newspaper interviews, CEO Tatsumi Kimishima confirmed the plan to release at least four mobile titles in calendar 2017 and onward. An interview with the Kyoto Shimbun paper originally... Read more...

If all goes according to plan, the next SteamWorld series game will launch in 2017.

Image & Form released their latest "Engine Room" update video today, in which it was announced that the next SteamWorld title will release in 2017 as part of the company's 20th anniversary celebration. No platforms were identified, nor the new game's title.

December 22, 2016

The big game of the week is what may be the second-to-last time we use the "Wii U Retail" heading for North America - Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. And even then, the disc launches next week. Still, Matt seemed quite smitten with the game, while noted Shantae fan Zach Miller will have his own analysis soon. And a tropical adventure is just the thing to warm up the world on a cold winter's day.

December 21, 2016

Super Mario Run is seeing a lot of downloads, and adding new features to go along with it.

A new "Friendly Run" mode became available today, allowing players to do a daily run of Toad Rally mode without using a Rally Ticket item. If the full version of the game has been purchased and World 2 completed, this expands to five runs a day.

December 20, 2016

The Khronos Group has officially listed the upcoming console as conforming to several of the graphical API standards it's responsible for.

The Nintendo Switch is officially compliant with the new Vulkan graphics application programming interface (API). The Khronos Group, which creates and manages a collection of industry standard APIs, has officially placed the upcoming console on lists of hardware tested and verified to be compliant with Vulkan's requirements, as well as lists showing compliance with OpenGL 4.5 and OpenGL ES 3.2.

December 16, 2016

Nintendo has revealed more Switch preview plans, including two major events in March.

The new console will be present both at PAX South in San Antonio, TX from January 27 - 29, as well as PAX East in Boston from March 10 - 12 and South by Southwest (SxSW) in Austin, TX from March 17 - 19.

It's another one of those odd weeks for a Nintendo download report where the biggest deal isn't on an eShop. In this case, it's Super Mario Run for iOS (sorry fellow Android owners, we have a wait ahead of us). It could come out at any time, but if you signed up to be notified by Apple you'll probably find out before we do.

December 14, 2016

Lifespeed, a 3D racer inspired by F-Zero, will debut exclusively for the New Nintendo 3DS early next year.

Johh Owens, the CEO of Wee Man Studios, told Nintendo World Report that Lifespeed is finished and that the developer is currently waiting for the game to pass Nintendo's internal lot check. He further explained that a January release is very likely for the title.

Nintendo's competitive tank combat title will be hitting digital shelves very soon.

Tank Troopers, the third person action shooter for Nintendo 3DS, is set to release in Japan on December 21 on the 3DS eShop for ¥800 (roughly $6.95 USD with current rates). Nintendo also opened up the official Japanese website for the game today.

While the main draw of Tank Troopers is its competitive... Read more...

Some demo weekends have been announced for the Switch, and My Nintendo members will have some choice as to when to try the system out.

Communication was sent to some My Nintendo members today announcing Switch demo weekends in major US cities. The Friday and Saturday events are invite only while Sunday will be open to the public. Those entering on Friday and Saturday are permitted to bring one guest with them.

The new system will be revealed on January 12 / 13 as promised, with the stream live from Japan beginning at 11 pm Eastern time (8 pm Pacific) on the 12th for North America, 4 am GMT / 5 am CEST / 1 pm JST / 3 pm AEST on the 13th for the rest of the world.

December 12, 2016

The first Johto-native Pokémon and a special Pikachu are coming to Pokémon Go today.

Starting from today, Pokémon including but not limited to Pichu and Togepi will occasionally hatch from eggs. According to Niantic, more 2nd generation Pokémon will be available over the next few months.

As well, a Christmas promotion will see a Pikachu wearing a special holiday hat from today through the 29th of December.

Universal Studios Japan has released financial information and images for Super Nintendo World.

The Japanese park will cost over 50 billion yen ($431 million US) and be completed before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It is expected to bring 11.7 trillion yen ($101 billion US) in economic activity to Japan along with 1 million jobs within ten years of opening. Costs and dates were not announced for the Orlando and Hollywood locations.